


Of All the Creatures

by YaminoTenshi202



Series: Collateral Damage [2]
Category: Guardians of Childhood & Related Fandoms, Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Illegitimacy, M/M, Original characters or are they?, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-30
Updated: 2013-10-30
Packaged: 2017-12-28 07:41:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/989479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YaminoTenshi202/pseuds/YaminoTenshi202
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'Of all... the creatures I could have met,' Bunny thought, petting the "Pooka" on the head. He had thought that he was alone for centuries.  He noted the way that the little Pooka had a mainly human body, but the marked ears and robes that resembled his own fur was enough to drive the information out of his mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of All the Creatures

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The Black Ice Fandom](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=The+Black+Ice+Fandom).



> This is the sequel to "Never Apologise", but it is still not the main story of "Collateral Damage". Prequels~ :3

In the beginning, the earth was shaped like an egg.

It would be a memory that Bunnymund would carry to the end of his days. He thought of it now, as he placed the last Easter egg of the year in its own basket. It was a small one, smaller than its brothers, but it was strong and did not waver. It swore it would be ready, despite its size, for the year's celebration, and it was.

As he hid in the bushes, watching as children began to appear from their homes to the small clearing and their hands were eagerly grabbing for his googies, their faces almost splitting from the grins on their mouths at the sight of sweet chocolate. His heart filled with joy, as an old memory came to him.

_Itzel - his mate, all those years ago - saw how their kits pined to taste the forbidden treat of chocolate, distracting themselves with play before the sun would set, the evening growing cold. She turned to Aster._

_"One day, perhaps, they can know the taste and not the item itself?" Aster chuckled and drew her in close, nuzzling her cheek with his. She smelled like the peaches that grew on the tree behind them._

_"Perhaps," he replied, unlatching his over-robe and draping it across her. "Go on inside. I'll get them."_

 

__

 

 

He shook his head and opened up a tunnel beneath his body, falling into it.

Enough memories for now.

* * *

It has been a year after Pitch's lair had disappeared. No sign of its former entrance remained, and there was a time of rejoicing. Finally! A world where there was indeed not a spot of great fear.

Bunnymund celebrated with his fellow Guardians, bringing some of the eggs that had not matured yet for Easter and had not been painted. They were split evenly amongst the five guardians, and the small eggs melted in their mouths, the chocolate wiping away any bit of discontent that the Bogeyman had left them with.

North pulled out containers of eggnog and Bunnymund noticed that their taste – the alcohol that North had grown up with before he was a Guardian – was stronger. He drank it carefully, knowing how the alcohol could make him forgetful or unconscious entirely. There had many embarrassing occurrences in the Workshop that he would like to not repeat.

“What’s wrong, Cottontail? Scared of drinking a bit of eggnog?” The Pooka turned to his right, watching Jack Frost as he drank his serving while perched upon his staff. His new black cape, something that he said that the Moon had given to him for his three centuries of solitude, reminded Bunnymund of a raven's feathers, if the plumage was also decorated in gold and silver threads. He wondered what it was like to sit like a bird on top of that weapon, but kept his comment back.

The tinkling of bells hit the air, a pair of bells hanging from a ribbon revealing themselves on Jack's staff. They were new.

“I’m not scared of anything. I’d rather not have a headache from the eggnog, is all.” He set his cup down on the nearby railing, turning to the younger spirit. Jack smirked down at him, but his cheeks were getting a pinker tone to them. His eyes, Bunny newly noted, were older now. He looked... haunted. “Are you going to be okay drinking it, though? You’re looking a bit-“

“Of course, I’ll be fine!” The frost spirit spoke louder than normal, though not too loud to be an immediate annoyance, and he turned his head. 

"Are you fine, Jack? Not from the eggnog, but... Has anything happened?" He asked hesitantly, but Jack turned to him, his lips opening and closing again. He looked eager, as though he wanted to tell Bunnymund something.

"You can tell me, mate."

"... I saw a general. He wants to be known as Colonel, but he's a general." Jack looked away, focusing on the decorations hung around the room. "Someone's going to visit you, Bunny."

Bunny started a bit at that. "Who and why?"

Jack shrugged. "All I know is that she's going to visit you, because you need it and because it will help her." The frost spirit let himself land back on the tiles of the floor, his toes curling a bit at the heat that greeted his soles. His crook was safe in his grasp. Jack's cape - something that Bunny found himself interested in, its golden threads catching the light and glistening - was wrapped around his arms and he seemed more content. Perhaps it kept out the heat from its owner, keeping him cool and comfortable?

"That aside, I've been meaning to ask about that cape." Jack looked up at Bunnymund and then down at the threading. "What do the symbols mean?"

Jack twirled his staff in his hand, seeming to think about the question that was just asked. He was most likely thinking of a lie, Bunny thought. Jack had been visiting them less and less as of last year, after the summer months. True, the winter spirit had work to do with the coming Winter, but even as the cold began to wane and Spring came forward, givign excuses about "finding relatives".

Jack had come forward and said that he had a sister and that he needed to find her descendants, his family. North, Tooth, and Sandy had been elated, glad that Jack could finally have those that he could relate to fully, giving him ideas of what he could do with his family, while Bunny stood to the side and asked Jack how he had across the knowledge of his family.

"Because the Moon told me so." The frost spirit's face had been as though the smile there had been frozen into place.

Now, as Jack brought a hand up to raise his staff a bit, Bunny heard the chime of bells again.

"The symbols tell a story." Jack traced some of the patterns with his free hand. "A story of a lonely man who raised a lonely child. They took care of each other. One day, their family got bigger and it grew small again with death as the culprit for doing so." Jack sighed. "The symbols spell out the name of a person I have to find, and something I have to do is also there in the symbols." He smiled at Bunny.

"My life is in this. The reason I exist is here, in gold and silver." He laughed, tense. "Sorry, I'm not fun when I have this stuff on my mind."

Bunnymund looked at Jack, trying to take in as many details as he could now. Jack looked tired. He had shadows under his eyes and looked like he hadn't rested in weeks. He could guess that it had probably been even longer than that that Jack hadn't had a proper rest. Jack was keeping his mouth open, as though it was his only method of breathing, his lips taking in gulps of air in an attempt from his body to get the oxygen it needed.

 

  
'

Bunny came forward, setting a paw on the young Guardian's shoulder.

"Have you found that family of yours?" Jack nodded and Bunny thought back to the family he had lost. "Keep them close, Jack. Anything could take them away, especially the things you don't expect."

He walked past him, not noticing Jack turning his head to watch him walk away, compassion flashing in his blue eyes.


End file.
